Anton Ferdinand Titz: Streichquartette für den St. Petersburger Hof • Das Hoffmeister Quartett spielt auf historischen Instrumenten
Laura Rónai
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Anton Ferdinand Titz: String Quartets for the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg. Hoffmeister Quartett. Erstaufnahme auf historischen Instrumenten. Kooperation mit PROFIL-Edition Günter Hänssler. Deutsch-englisches Booklet. Gesamtspielzeit 70:46. € 14

Fanfare, Issue 30:2 • November/Dezember 2006

»Titz’s string quartets are reputedly the first works of this genre composed in Russia. With a style akin to Haydn’s, and anticipating that of Brahms, they have nonetheless an original flavor of their own, and are works that certainly deserve to enter the standard repertoire. Very fresh and beautiful, classically Viennese, but already tinged with Romantic colors, much like the Bohemian music of the same period, Titz’s works skillfully alternate vigor and grace, and are suffused with the contrast of gravitas and coarse humor so typical of Eastern Europe.
[…] Hoffmeisters comprise an excellent ensemble, well matched in sound, ability, and ideas. Their affinity with the music is immediately obvious, and they play with contagious enthusiasm, displaying musical flexibility and emotional intensity. Their sound is round and blended, inflections are perfectly administered, there is ample variety in articulation and the many changes in character are always well defined.
[…]
Lest I forget, the CD is extremely well recorded and produced, and the liner notes, by Ernst Stöckl and Klaus Harer, are informative and stylishly penned.«